The Fire Next Time in Around the World in 80 Books

May 27, 2020 Ginger rated it it was amazing

Astoundingly good. Sadly timely.

I’ve been gulping down Russell Moore’s YouTube series Reading in Exile and when he suggested this slim volume a few weeks ago, I decided to give it a go.

It’s shocking this wasn’t written this very week. I stopped in my tracks at this line: “It demands great spiritual resilience not to hate the hater whose foot is on your neck...”

I’m heartbroken this is still true. I’m so glad I read this.

9 likes · Like · see review

Jan 16, 2018 Kent Winward rated it really liked it

The greatest strength of this is in the end when the destruction of the biblical world that ended with water will be by "the fire next time" suggesting the devastation that is coming and the cleansing that is needed from our institutional racism. Seems we are in the oven as we speak. ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2022 Juliana Philippa rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2022-reads, 4-stars, 4-to-5-stars, race-in-america, race, 2022-reads-dec

For this is your home, my friend, do not be driven from it; great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make American what America must become.
(p.10)

4 stars

This innocent country set you down in a ghetto in which, in fact, it intended that you should perish. Let me spell out precisely what I mean by that, for the heart of the matter is here, and the root of my dispute with my country. You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were blac

...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 05, 2020 Karen rated it really liked it

Baldwin did not hold back on his views of white America. Although it was published in 1963, it is still relevant today. I thought the first letter (My Dungeon Shook) was poignant because it was written to his nephew, but I really liked the second letter (Down at the Cross). I didn't know that much about the Nation of Islam and it was good to read of Baldwin's thoughts about it. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 14, 2017 Mike rated it really liked it

I read this because of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ glowing praise of the work as his major inspiration.

The militancy, and disparaging view of the whites in general was a bit of a surprise, but once one starts to understand the depths of oppression, and the length of time it has gone on, who can blame the man with being fed up and willingness to fight for change?

Overall the essay spoke of a view to calling things by their true name as the key starting point for the country to move forward. Call the subjug ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 21, 2023 Stacey Matson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

As apt and pertinent today as when it was published in 1963. Should be required reading, with thorough discussion, in every high school in America.

Like · see review

Mar 11, 2018 Ryan rated it it was amazing

A pretty quick read, his writing is moving and his critique of the church as it relates to civil rights is incisive, unsettling, and well worth hearing.

Like · see review